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Can't remember where you put your glasses? Blanked on your new colleague's name? "Forgetting these types of
things is a sign of how busy we are," says Zaldy S. Tan, MD, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth
Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "When we're not paying good attention, the memories we form
aren't very robust, and we have a problem retrieving the information later."

The key, says Harry Lorayne, author of 0




 




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get your brain in shape. "We exercise our bodies, but what good is that great body if you don't have the mental
capabilities to go with it?" Sure, you could write everything down, keep organized lists and leave electronic
notes on your BlackBerry, cell phone or PDA. But when you don't have access to those aids, or if you want to
strengthen your brain, try these expert-recommended strategies to help you remember.

PLUS: Top 10 Tips for a Healthy Brain

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  When you're introduced to someone, really listen to the person's name. Then, to get a better
grasp, picture the spelling. Ask, "Is that Kathy with a K or a C?" Make a remark about the name to help lock it
in ("Oh, Carpenter -- that was my childhood best friend's last name"), and use the name a few times during the
conversation and when you say goodbye.


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 For hard-to-remember monikers (Bentavegna, Wobbekind), make the name meaningful.
For Bentavegna, maybe you think of a bent weather vane. Picture it. Then look at the person, choose an
outstanding feature (bushy eyebrows, green eyes) and tie the name to the face. If Mr. Bentavegna has a big
nose, picture a bent weather vane instead of his nose. The sillier the image, the better.

PLUS: 11 Healthy Ways to De-Stress With Food

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 . Picture Joe Everett standing atop Mount Everest. If you want to remember
that Erin Curtis is the CEO of an architectural firm, imagine her curtsying in front of a large building, suggests
Gini Graham Scott, PhD, author of [  


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! ! Supplement these tips with some more concrete actions. When you get a business card, after
the meeting, jot down a few notes on the back of the card ("red glasses, lives in Springfield, went to my alma
mater") to help you out when you need a reminder.

Download our Life IQ trivia game for your iPhone.

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*!+$+*! Pay attention to what you're doing as you place your glasses on the end table. Remind
yourself, "I'm putting my keys in my coat pocket," so you have a clear memory of doing it, says Scott.

PLUS: 7 Sleep Disorders Keeping You Awake and 10 Foods to Help You Sleep

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$  Put a small basket on a side table. Train yourself to put your keys, glasses, cell phone or any
other object you frequently use (or misplace) in the basket -- every time.

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 ! To remind yourself of a chore (write a thank-you note, go to the dry cleaner), give yourself an
unusual physical reminder. You expect to see your bills on your desk, so leaving them there won't necessarily
remind you to pay them. But place a shoe or a piece of fruit on the stack of bills, and later, when you spot the
out-of-place object, you'll remember to take care of them, says Carol Vorderman, author of 

 
  
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 To remember a small group of items (a grocery list, phone number, list of names, to-do list), adapt it
to a well-known song, says Vorderman. Try "peanut butter, milk and eggs" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle,
Little Star," "Happy Birthday" or even nursery rhymes.

PLUS: 6 Fish Recipes to Boost Your Brain

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. Many of us learned "ROY G BIV" to remember the colors of the rainbow, or
"Every Good Boy Deserves Favors" to learn musical notes. Make up your own device to memorize names
(Suzanne's kids are Adam, Patrick and Elizabeth, or "APE"), lists (milk, eggs, tomatoes, soda, or "METS") or
computer commands (to shut down your PC, hit Control+Alt+Delete, or "CAD").

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$ When you have no pen or paper and are making a mental grocery or to-do list, remember it
according to major body parts, says Scott. Start at your feet and work your way up. So if you have to buy glue,
cat food, broccoli, chicken, grapes and toothpaste, you might picture your foot stuck in glue, a cat on your knee
looking for food, a stalk of broccoli sticking out of your pants pocket, a chicken pecking at your belly button, a
bunch of grapes hanging from your chest and a toothbrush in your mouth.

Enhance your IQ with our new Word Power game!

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0 With the Roman room technique, you associate your grocery, to-do or party-invite list with the
rooms of your house or the layout of your office, garden or route to work. Again, the zanier the association, the
more likely you'll remember it, says Scott. Imagine apples hanging from the chandelier in your foyer, spilled
cereal all over the living room couch, shampoo bubbles overflowing in the kitchen sink and cheese on your
bedspread.

PLUS: 15 Foods You Should Never Buy Again

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$ Assign a shape to each number: 0 looks like a ball or ring; 1 is a pen; 2 is a swan; 3
looks like handcuffs; 4 is a sailboat; 5, a pregnant woman; 6, a pipe; 7, a boomerang; 8, a snowman; and 9, a
tennis racket. To remember your ATM PIN (4298, say), imagine yourself on a sailboat (4), when a swan (2)
tries to attack you. You hit it with a tennis racket (9), and it turns into a snowman (8). Try forgetting that image!

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 Think of words that rhyme with the numbers 1 through 9 (knee for 3, wine for 9, etc.). Then
create a story using the rhyming words: A nun (1) in heaven (7) banged her knee (3), and it became sore (4).

PLUS: 10 Healing Herbs and Spices

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3˜# Say you just can't remember the name of that movie. Recite the alphabet (aloud or in
your head). When you get to the letter R, it should trigger the name that's escaping you: 
. This trick
works when taking tests too.

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 To memorize a speech, toast or test material, read your notes, then type
them into the computer. Next, read them aloud and tape-record them. Listen to the recording several times. As
you work on memorizing, remember to turn off the TV, unplug your iPod and shut down your computer; you'll
retain more.

PLUS: 7 Home Health Checks That Can Save Your Life

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! Give your notes some color with bolded headings and bulleted sections (it's easier to remember a
red bullet than running text).

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*. Imagine an intersection and mentally place a word, fact or number on each street corner.